In the wake of the ASADA investigation into the Cronulla Sharks, Shane Flanagan was ready to start again from scratch.
When he began to map out where he wanted to take Cronulla as a club, the Melbourne Storm were one of the clubs he looked at closely.
Two years later and the Sharks will meet the Storm in Sunday’s grand final looking to win their historic first premiership.
Flanagan paid tribute to Melbourne ahead of the decider and what he had learnt from Storm coach – and friend – Craig Bellamy.
“I know the way Craig operates,” he said.
“Since when Cooper [Cronk] and Cameron [Smith] and Billy [Slater] started their careers down there, for me they’ve probably been the most consistent team year after year.
“I know they’ve had some competitions taken off them but we all know that it doesn’t take away from the football team they put on the park.
“They have been the most consistent team for 10 years. And we do admire them as a club and look at them as a benchmark club but come Sunday we’ll be taking the gloves off, that’s for sure.”
Flanagan confirmed forward Joseph Paulo would definitely not play after failing to recover in time from a knee injury but said Sam Tagataese was still in contention for selection.
Tagataese trained well on Thursday and will be ready to go – if Flanagan names him in his final 17-man squad.
Flanagan said minor premiers Melbourne were favourites to win on Sunday but that the wave of support from the shire would help carry his players.
And Flanagan won’t be hiding them from the hype.
“I’m not going to try and hide them from it. I want them to enjoy it,” he said.
“That’s been part of the whole year. Our supporter base has just built, our sponsorship, the club has just gone through the roof in all areas this year and I want them to enjoy that.
“I’m not going to shield them from that or lock them away in a hotel room somewhere.
“We’ll just enjoy the atmosphere and the build up to the game. They’re a really level-headed group.
“They’ve played Test matches and Origins. Birdy is only 20-years-old and he’s played Origin. He understands what the build up is. You can’t get bigger than Origin. So we’ll be ok, we’ll just lap it up and enjoy it.
“In the end we’ve got a game of football. [On Friday] we’ll probably start to lock ourselves down and think about what needs to be done when that whistle blows. Not about how many fans will be along Captain Cook Drive. All that stuff is great for the club but for the 17 or 18 athletes we’ve got on that bus have got to focus on the job.”